Wow, brilliant post, man. Seriously, I couldn't possibly counter debate that. That post is a thing of beauty and a joy forever. You're obviously a true scholar of Batman lore
You've convinced me. Well played, sir. It's great to debate with someone who has the hard facts to back up what they say

I was thinking about bringing up The Crow, but, I don't really count that as being in a series when it's really it's own thing, lol.

Imo, The Crow shouldn't really be brought up as it's a solo film, really. The following sequels, while they tried to fit with the same theme or what have you, it's not the same character from the first installment.

No offense to anyone who did, but I don't usually count animated CBMs along with my live-action ones. I just prefer to categorize them separately. Not to mention I'm not sure many of them could be considered "first in the series" as very few are origin stories and mostly assume you know the character.

Top five animated CBMs are probably:
Doctor Strange Sorcerer Supreme
Batman Under the Red Hood
Batman Year One
Planet Hulk
Superman/Batman: Public Enemies

The dark knight returns series was just ok. Nothing special. Maybe I had to be hear to read the novel. I mean it's not bad at all, don't get me wrong. Well Superman was awful in how he was used but Batman was perfect besides being 280 pounds. I liked Carrie but if Batman having a 13 girl as his partner and driving tanks for him against superman is kind of ridculous

Nothing beats Batman Begins as a setup/origins film for me. As I can see many people agree

It's first third is incredibly character-driven for a action blockbuster, easily more than anything that came before it and arguably any after (though the other films in the trilogy carried that torch in different ways). It plays out almost like an indie character study on Bruce Wayne.

__________________

Life was such a wheel that no
man could stand upon it for long.
And it always, at the end, came
round to the same place again.

It's first third is incredibly character-driven for a action blockbuster, easily more than anything that came before it and arguably any after (though the other films in the trilogy carried that torch in different ways). It plays out almost like an indie character study on Bruce Wayne.